TO WILLIAM COWPER, ESQ.
On hearing that our names had been idly mentioned in a newspaper, as competitors in a Life of Milton.
Cowper! delight of all who justly prize
The splendid magic of a strain divine,
That sweetly tempts th' enlighten'd soul to rise,
As sunbeams lure an eagle to the skies.
Poet! to whom I feel my heart incline
As to a friend endear'd by virtue's ties;
Ne'er shall my name in pride's contentious line
With hostile emulation cope with thine!
No, let us meet, with kind fraternal aim,
Where Milton's shrine invites a votive throng.
With thee I share a passion for his fame,
His zeal for truth, his scorn of venal blame:
But thou hast rarer gifts,—to thee belong
His harp of highest tone, his sanctity of song.
[739] Private correspondence.
[740] Lord Howe was at this time in pursuit of the French fleet, and absent six weeks, during which the public received no intelligence of his movements. His lordship at length returned, having only seen the enemy, but without having been able to overtake and bring them to action. Though this furnished no argument against him, but rather showed the terror that he inspired, yet some of the wits of the day wrote the following jeu d'esprit on the occasion.
When Cæsar triumph'd o'er his Gallic foes,
Three words concise,* his gallant acts disclose;
But Howe, more brief, comprises his in one,
And vidi tells us all that he has done.
Lord Howe subsequently proved his claim to the whole of this celebrated despatch of Cæsar, by the great victory which he gained off Ushant over the French fleet, June 1, 1794, a victory which forms one of the brightest triumphs of the British navy.
*Veni, vidi, vici. I came, I saw, I conquered.
[741] Sketch of the Life of Cowper.
[742] Sketch of the Life of Cowper, by Dr. Johnson.